Wednesday, July 25, 2007

You Will Light Up Immediately After Take-Off

According to the Washington Post a new start up airline will be pure bliss for smokers as they will allow passengers to light up to their heart's content. "The new airline is called, naturally, Smoker's International Airways, or Smintair for short. The founder is a local entrepreneur who promises a return to the days when air travel was considered glamorous, when stewardesses were happy to bring you a glass of scotch, and when smoking in the lavatory didn't risk criminal prosecution." According to Alexander W. Schoppmann, a former stockbroker who started Smintair. "What all of those carriers want these days is for you to stay in the seat, and you better bloody well stay there, and don't even ask for anything to eat or drink. You can't do anything."

Their 138 passenger capacity 747 will hopefully soon begin service to Nagoya in Japan. He plans to finalize the purchase an aircraft from South African Airways in the next few weeks.

Let's hope nothing like what happened to comedian Richard Pryor occurs on Smintair. A few minutes after takeoff the flight attendants noticed the smell of smoke and immediately began to check around the cabin for the source. They soon realised that Mr. Pryor had lit a cigarette and dropped it in his lap, igniting his polyester jogging trousers. The quick thinking stewardess immediately threw a huge jug of iced tea into his lap and averted a disaster.

What its all about...

People behaving badly, or bizarrely, are not the only things that make airlines and air travel so fascinating. Flying is fun, air travel is glamorous and it’s the source of more than its fair share of amusing incidents.

According to our publisher it's "an hilarious, ghastly, amazing and sometimes even down right worrying insight into the airline industry and the world of aviation. Packed full of trivia, gossip, stories and anecdotes it is the perfect read for a flight to a holiday destination." And who are we to argue?

Chris and I thought we'd like to share some of the amusing stories from the book and for you to tell us what has happened to you. We will also be trawling the world for yet more funny stories to keep you in the know about the crazy wacky world of airlines and flying.